


Babysitting (2)

by Rei382



Series: Hagane No Chronicles [12]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2013-12-12
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rei382/pseuds/Rei382
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to 'Babysitting'. What happens after an entire week with the cats he so objected to?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysitting (2)

The sound of the doorbell ringing tore Roy from his sleep. His body didn’t seem to mind that too much; it was probably late if his brain wasn’t complaining about being forced back into consciousness. Lazily, Roy opened his eyes. A smile spread on his lips at the sight in front of him. Ed was still sleeping, undisturbed by the door. His face was relaxed, calm; nothing like the ferocious Ed he knew while the younger man was awake. It was nearly impossible not to admire the way he looked, with his honey coloured skin and blond hair. He looked so innocent, so naïve and made Roy want to protect him even though he was already twenty three years old, and proved on several occasions that he could protect himself just fine, even without using Alchemy. The fact that he was cuddled with Mr. Cookies and Mary only added to the adorable sight and made the smile on Roy’s lips broaden. The small space between Roy’s and Ed’s bodies became the cats’ regular sleeping spot during the last few days. Considering Edward’s strong objection to the cats’ presence in the house, Roy found the current situation amazing.

He could see the change happening. Despite his glorious declaration that he would not be able to grow to like the animals, little by little he gave in. At first, it was only things as simple as not getting mad every time one of the cats rubbed against his leg or chose to jump on his lap and demand attention, or just sitting there and enjoying Ed’s body warmth. Then he started to actually pet them, starting with absent mindly when they sat in his lap and then deliberately when he passes next to one of them. Then, he stopped making a scene every time he spotted one of them on the bed, his reaction less and less objective until it reached the stage that it was now – agreeing to sleep in the bed while they were there and allowing them to share the space with him and with Roy.

The doorbell rang again, tearing Roy from his thoughts and returning him to the reason he was awake. It was a shame to leave the bed and the person sleeping there, but he had to answer the door. He turned away from Ed, paying a glance at the clock; it was definitely time to get up. He was pretty sure he was supposed to know the reason that someone was at their door now, but the details seemed to have escaped his mind. It didn’t matter much anyway.

He got out of the bed, got dressed and walked out of the room straight towards the front door. He looked at the peep hole, his eyebrows rising in surprise as he saw the person standing at the other side of it. Without waiting, he unlocked the door and opened it, now able to see the youngest Elric looking at him with an apologetic smile.

“Hello Roy. I – uh – did I wake you up?” Alphonse’s voice was as apologizing as his smile, genuine worry lining it.

After all this time, and after Ed finally managed to get his younger brother to address Roy using his first name rather than his rank, and despite the fact that Edward had been living here for over a year, the twenty-two year old still couldn’t see himself as a family member in this house, and still failed to realize that if he needed something, there was no need to apologize.

“I needed to wake up anyway. Ed and I were supposed to just take a quick nap but we ended up falling asleep,” he explained, and moved from the entry to enable Al to come in. At least he didn’t wait for an invitation. Picking up two cages from the floor, Alphonse walked into the house; Roy only now noticed the cages were there, and he frowned for just a second before the sight reminded him why the thought that he really was expecting someone kept nagging at his mind. That was the reason they decided only on a short nap; Al and Winry came back today and asked if it’d be alright to stop by and pick up the cats.

He wasn’t sure how Ed would react to that. Sure, yesterday he was indifferent; but he never really admitted to care about anything like that, that was just the kind of person he was.

Alphonse smiled. “Sorry I interrupted. Is Ed still sleeping?”

“Don’t worry about it. I can’t afford to spend the entire day sleeping anyway, and yes, he is.” Roy smiled. “Then he blames _me_ for being impossible to wake…”

“He can definitely sleep well when he wants to,” Alphonse let out a short chuckle at the comment, but immediately resumed his worried expression. “But please, there’s no need to wake him up, I’ll just take the cats and leave. I can drop by later. Where are they?”

“You’re not going to believe this,” Roy said, still smiling. He glanced at the bedroom, just to make sure that everything was okay before his next words. “Come, take a look.”

“What?” Alphonse said, and, quite hesitantly, followed Roy. While Roy simply entered the room, the younger man just stood at the entry, probably out of respect for the intimate space. Roy didn’t think it was necessary, but he had no plans to comment on it. There were times that the young man felt too awkward to even get near the area; it was actually a progress that he agreed to stand at the entrance. He glanced at the sleeping Ed before looking at Al, his smile broadening at the change of his expression. Clearly, he didn’t expect to see that. “Is he -?” he started, his eyes going wide when Roy nodded. “I _knew_ he’d give in eventually! Twelve years I’ve been waiting!”

Roy let out a short chuckle, before turning back to the sleeping figure on the bed. He sat down, reaching to move a stray bang from his face. “Ed, wake up,” he said softly, watching the light eyelashes vibrate a little bit and completely ignoring Alphonse’s rushes objection from the door. He could hear him letting out a sigh and was vaguely aware that he turned, probably to give them some privacy, even though for now, Roy didn’t see that as necessary. “Your brother’s here, and we’ve spent too much of the day here.”

He watched Ed stir in his sleep a little before his eyes opened. Sleep covered golden orbs glared at him, blaming him. It took a few more seconds before he spoke. “What?” he asked his slight confusion clear in his voice.

“Al’s here. Came to pick up the cats. I think it’d be nice if you at least say hi to him.”

“Al?..” Ed repeated slowly, blinking a few times before he finally turned his eyes towards the door. Roy could watch the change in his expression – the confusion deepening for a moment, then replaced by happiness that, in turn, changed into anger, and then it relaxed again, as if he decided that whatever he was mad at wasn’t worth it; or maybe simply deciding that he was too tired to start a fight. He turned, lying on his back as he focused his stare at his little brother. “Oh hi Al,” he said. “How was your vacation?”

The younger Elric turned back to face the room, looking at Ed with a bright smile. “It was great. Sorry I didn’t give you a warning before… but thanks for keeping an eye on the cats for me. I know it’d probably been a burden but – “

“Sure, sure, whatever. It’s fine. Came to pick them up?” somewhere next to him, Ed sat up and as if on a cue he could hear the faint mewing of one of the cats as the weight was shifted. Roy looked at him, unable not to glance at his naked upper body; it didn’t matter how many times it’d been revealed to him, didn’t matter that he shared his bed with this beautiful creature, he still could never get tired of just how good he looked. He knew that he was completely naked; they never bothered sleeping with clothes on, it was just too much trouble, but he could see that even though he still looked half asleep, Ed did made sure that the blanket covered his lower part. He knew that it wasn’t because Ed was too shy to be naked around Alphonse – or, hell no, around Roy – but he assumed that it was the combination of both of them that made him cover himself.

Alphonse smiled. “Yeah. Hope they weren’t too much trouble?”

“No, don’t worry about it,” Roy said with a smile. He could see, on Ed’s face, that he was going to say something along the lines of ‘how could they not be?’ even though it was obviously a lie. He cast one last glance at Ed before looking down at the cats. Mr.Cookies was just stretching, so he felt bad about picking him up, and he took Mary instead and got up.

Alphonse, still with a bright smile, hurried towards him and took the cat away. “Thank you for taking care of them. I know it was sudden – “

“Eh, don’t worry about it, ‘kay? Just make sure you actually let me know next time.”

“Ed,” Roy said, letting a sigh and returning to the bed to take Mr.Cookies. “I told you what happened. He tried. No harm’s done!”

“Sure. Whatever.” He didn’t look or sound too convinced. “How’s Winry? Didn’t get to speak to her for too long.”

“She’s great. She said that now that we’re back you two should come for dinner – and, Ed, she complains that it’d been too long since she looked at your leg.”

“Argh. It’s not like I need it to be looked at too often. I’m done with fighting and all that stuff. But maybe I’ll take her on her word for dinner. This week’s my turn to cook so – “

“So if we’re going this week, Ed, then the week after will be yours. Don’t think you can escape it so easily,” Roy said jokingly. He didn’t really mean that – he knew how much Ed hated (and wasn’t so good at) cooking. He just loved teasing him. He scratched Mr. Cookies’ head, walking towards Alphonse. He could hear Ed murmuring something angry behind him, unable to hold back a chuckle. “You’ll be alright taking both cages to the car?” Roy asked; he didn’t really feel like getting out of the warm house – and put on decent enough clothes – but carrying two traveling cages sure wasn’t easy.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine – but, uh, can you help me put them both in the cages? If it’s not too much trouble?”

“Sure.”

Together, they put both cats in their respective places; it was hard to see them in there and know that he would no longer enjoy their fuzziness at night or their company while Ed was away – or simply not in the mood for anything – but they were Alphonse’s and Winry’s pets and he respected that. Once all was set, Alphonse cast him a last smile.

“Thanks again, and sorry. Feel free to drop by whenever you want, I’m sure Winry and the cats will be as happy as I’ll be.”

Roy smiled. “We will, don’t worry. Feel free to bring the cats over whenever you want, they were charming. I think both me and Ed got attached to them.”

“I will,” Alphonse took the cages, and turned towards the door. “Have a great day, you two,” he said, and with Roy’s wish for a safe ride he left. The house felt empty again, like it did before the animals joined them.

Roy turned back towards the bedroom, intending to pull Ed out of there – they both had things to do, after all – when a thought crossed his mind. It was a long shot, but it was worth a try. When he entered the bedroom he could see that, as expected, Ed returned to hide under the blankets. He sat on the bed again.

“Ed,” he said, waiting until the golden orbs were staring at him again. “What would you say if I offer to get us a pet?”

Ed frowned, turning so he could look clearly at Roy now. “A pet? Like a cat or something?”

“Could be, but doesn’t have to be. I just think it’d be nice to take care of something together. It was fun this week, wasn’t it?” Roy knew that this question held a lot behind it; but as for now, as long as Ed won’t start asking, he wouldn’t volunteer any unnecessary meanings to it.

“I don’t know, Roy. I don’t think so. I’m going back to sleep,” he covered himself again – but just before he did, Roy could see that his answer wasn’t really genuine. They still weren’t there, but they were rather close. He chose not to push the subject now, focusing instead on the fact that they really did have things to do.

“Oh no, you can’t sleep now, we’ve spent the entire afternoon sleeping.”

“I know – but maybe just like, five minutes?”

“No.”

“Oof,” Ed said, but Roy knew he wasn’t really mad. He smiled, waiting for his lover to drag himself out of bed.

Maybe today was too soon, but he was sure that if he keeps asking, he’ll get what he wants, eventually. He knew he and Ed were heading towards the same direction; they simply weren’t on the same page yet.


End file.
